Post Meet Review : Track day - 11th & 12th March

This is a discussion on Post Meet Review : Track day - 11th & 12th March within The Team-BHP Meet Section, part of the Shifting gears category; Just got back home from track. Someone requested to see some lap times posted, so here are a few. These ...

Just got back home from track. Someone requested to see some lap times posted, so here are a few. These are *unprofessional* lap times taken on a phone instrument by amateurs. We are jumping the gun, aren't we?

Which means there are a few drawbacks. (i) Lap times are taken on random -- any one lap of a car is taken at a time. That may not be the *best* lap for that car/ driver. There may be better laps (ii) Only car identifications exist, have no idea who's driving. If you can bear with these 2 issues, here are a few numbers:

Official transponder lap times may be posted subsequently by organizers I suppose? The record for this track I am told is 1.10 seconds, held by Ayub Khan.

Last track day, drove my 1.4 Corsa. This track day, drove Ayub Khan's race esteem. After doing that, I can say that his record lap time is really spaced out!

Before driving his car, had the privilege of being personally trained by him. Started with the *pre-drive* hotlap objectives, braking/shifting/throttle positions based on markers on track (never noticed the markers on track before!).

Then he demonstrated the strategy by driving 3 laps with me as co-driver. Then we switched places and I did 1 lap with him monitoring as the co-driver/ instructor. Once he was confident I got the lessons right, he let me drive it out the way I had requested it -- alone.

So then I drove 7 laps in his *championship* race esteem. Of all the things I learnt today, I think the most valuable lesson has to be: It takes more than a fast car to be a champion.

Will post pics on Monday. Here's one to start with though. With Ayub Khan and his car that I drove today. (I am beside him wearing a cap)

PS: My thanks to all the organizers including Farhan Vohra (Sideways), Sawan Gupta (BikerSG), JD Madan and all the others. All of you were courteous, accommodating and helpful.

To everyone that's reading this post, you know now where to go to bump your performance driving skill up a notch.

This one can't be right. It has been graded on the basis of being a few seconds slower than another car. I must have lapped over 2 minutes for all I know (*sAP rolls eyes*). I think I should insist on a transponder. Hopefully, they will allow it on race esteems next time.

I am particularly impressed with the white race esteem driver on session 4 (Saturday) who drove alone, timing at 1.19 seconds. Anybody know who that was? I think i saw it spin out midway through Turn 1 (*!!*)... yeah the gradual turn right after the main straight. That was really pushing it.

Trail-braking brought me into a slide on the inside of Turn 6 on to the grand prairie. Had to fight the natural tendency to brake (*in a strange car*) but throttled back onto track on opposite lock. Well, so what's new about that. Turn 7, incidentally is in the opposite direction. Besides, at the beginning of the slide, no matter how many times its been done, one isn't quite sure if it is a whole lot of fun or just well, terrifying.

As Ayub puts it you ought to nudge your car the car where you want it to go and let it do the rest, been through the experience and it leaves me amazed on his driving skills as his car has the softest suspension setup on the car.

1) Amazing job organising for the huge turnout
2) Great to see the supercars coming out to the track
3) Amazing riding
4) Missed the Bangy crowd
5) Wish we had a track at Bangalore

Glad to see that the turn out is increasing and the response of the organising team improving each track meet. The opportunities to learn are way beyond what one expected, and it has remained since the first trackdays from what I hear.

Thanks sideways for convincing me to come over for the LGB's. However we are starting to get a bit jealous for the access you have to the track and the rides set up for em.

A note for those interested to get on the track,
1) Use the markers as indicated in the introdutory laps
2) Please pay attention to the briefing
3) Its not a race or a time trial

However, it was good fun to see the team bhp'ians enjoying it on track phenomenal driving out there by Shantanu (1.21), Mclaren (1.28: hard to believe that he posted that with 165's on his car), Wolf really good lines but please dont treat your car like a go-cart, Anush and his bro whoa I really never knew that you guys drove so cool. I still need to get over my treat the car right funda to push more lot to learn look forward to the next one.

Thanks, Psycho for taking that pic for me. Didn't get a chance to take many pics this time though, but here's my collection anyway. First of all, here is a track panorama (merged from 2 separate pictures):

Managed to make it to this trackday after missing out the previous time, and i seem to be having more fun everytime i come there.

This time decided to take my esteem, as i have been wanting to drive it on the track.
We left at 4:30 in the morning and realised that my windshield was so badly scratched that we were driving almost blind, and could barely see the road. Met up with everyone at the KR Puram flyover from where we left. Within a minute the VTEC and baleno were out of sight and we didnt dare try to keep up as we couldnt see at all. Followed a truck for sometime at 60 kmph
Met up with everyone slightly later when they stopped for us. Another stop for breakfast and before we knew it we were at the track.

Much larger turnout this time compared to the first time. Wasnt there at the last trackday so i couldnt really compare to that.

First session let my bro and friend drive the car. Bro came back and told me that it was super fun as the car just kept sliding about everywhere(we were running the stock 155 tyres).

Next session i drove, and i seriously think i had more fun in the esteem than the baleno last time. We were 100% the slowest on the track, and had to keep getting out of the way of the baleno and VTEC. Had to brake reeeeaaaallllly early for every corner as my brakes were squealing like crazy and i didnt want to subject them to much more wear as we had to drive back to bangalore too.
Friend timed us at 1:41 or 42 or something (I think even those timings are highly optimistic)

Then rented the fissmes, and damn those cars are fun. Was instructed not to brake and change down at the same time as the rear wheels have a tendency to lock up. Plus was told that spinning the fissmes were quite easy to spin. The fissmes have to be the most fun things that i have ever driven. It was extremely hard trying to fit myself into them, and much harder trying to get out, but they were really quick and great fun to drive . And yes.. i did manage to spin it.
Next time i will try the formula lgb cars.

Spent the rest of the day just watching the other bikes and cars. And took a few pics which i shall post soon.

Once again thanks to all the guys in chennai for organising this and being as
helpful and accomodating as possible. Had a great time there and shall definitely be back for the next trackday.

Hi frenz,
I'm very new to TBHP and this is ma first post.. xcuse me if something goes wrong.
I went to the track day with wolf,gray,Shantanu, mCLAREN psyco n frenz and trust me we had a hell of a time.. The only sad part being Gulzar crashing out.
Wolf was awesome with his lines and his v-tech was flying beating the crap outta other cars.. To add the icing on the cake our man Shantanu who was also driving the v-tec clocked a whopping 1.21.. and later had J.D.Madan come personally congratulating him and telling him " good job, we tried catching u but we couldn't".. Hats off to u Shantanu.. this being ur first time on the track and with just 1 session u clocked better than not 1 but many.. J.D. could not keep up with ur pace..
I was wonderin, if u could do that with a stock v-tech what would u have done with a fully blown one.

I had fun riding the race spec esteems and i also drove the LGB's. I clocked some 1.21 something on the LGB.. man was it fast or what!!!

Yeah, the Vtec did an awesome job on track but i think i did a 1:22 n not a 1:21. Will have to check the transponder results to confirm it (unless 1:22 was my average).

Neway, heres the low down on the Vtec.

Me n Wolf went to JC road, looking out for a set of cheap 2nd hand tyres with good tread life on them. The best we could manage was a mixed set of 2 Potenza G Grids n 2 potenza GIIIs (All 195/60 R14s with 70-80% wear). Paid around 700 bucks each.

We fit the G Grids on the fronts while the GIIIs went onto the rears. Ride quality wasn't all that great as they were worn out n bcome hard.

Day 1 - Session 1.

Being r very first time on track, Wolf decided to drive with me ridin shotgun. Our (follow the leader) laps were messed up by an agonisingly slow blue city who wasn't even able to keep up with the pace car.

Mclaren was the first to break loose and went on to overtake him. Wolf took off behind him and in no time we were going at full pelt. Being newbies we had a few rough patches on C2 and C7 with the car going off track on a few ocassions. The very first lap saw us doing 1:36. As time went by that fig dropped to around 1:32. Then it was time for me to get down and let Wolf make the best of the reduced weight.

I was standing on the tower clocking him everytime he'd pass under the JK arch. Once he got into the groove, the lap times fell drastically. 1:31, 1:30, 1:28 and finally a 1:26. Not bad for a first timer.

Day1 - Session 2
Now, it was my turn to take the wheel and see what i was capable of doing. Since i already knew the track (thanks to those 5 laps with Wolf), it didn't take me long to get my lines right.

Gray was sitting next to me n timing my progress. The first lap was a 1:32, which then came down to around 1:26.

The guy in the Mitsu FTO was furious to see a Vtec fly past him and tried his best to keep up, only to find himslef do a 360 and fly off, on C9.

Just then, the red flag was brought out n we had to enter the paddocks. But it wasn't over yet. There seemed to have been a goofup and there were still 7 mins left in the session.

This gave me the chance to take the car by myself. Wolf said he would time me from the pit lane. For those 7 mins, i gave it everything i had to give, late braking, revvmatching, toe-heeling...the works.

After the session, as i drove into the pits i knew i would better than the 1:26 but never expected a 1:22 on my first try.

Mclaren was driving pretty well but the lack of grip saw him manage around 1:32. Had that baleno been on 195s, it would have done a lot better.

Day2 - Session 1

We were a little concerned with the wear on the front left G Grid and decided to switch it with hois spare tyre which was a 185/60 R14 Potenza RE88. Miss matching the tyre pattern and size was never gonna help us but, we had no other choice.

The Baleno too made a quick change to 185 track tyres on the front wheels.

Wolf took to the wheel of the Vtec and was on a roll for a great time but, there were far too many cars on track that day and the marshals kept asking him to slow his pace. Inspite of it all, he managed a 1:23 on one off the laps. I'm sure he must have felt great overtaking the CLS and the Cayenne. Hehe

His session ended when the Vtec started losing power in the corners due to the lack of fuel in the fuel tank.

Day2 - Session 2

I'd just got back after filling some fuel in the Vtec when they announced the start of the car session. As i lined up, i could see that the CLS and the Cayenne weren't gonna be on track. They were replaced by a E270 and an awesomely sporty looking silver Mondeo.

As the session began, i was following Mclaren (who had Gray sitting with him). Wolf decided to sit in N_Adityas Esteem which was behind me.

The first few laps went in getting past the slow moving traffic. Everything went as planned until i caught up with the Red Swift being driven by Sawan (hope i got the name right). As we were aproaching C6, i saw the Swift brake and thought he was letting me through (as Aditya had done the same a lap earlier). I overtook him toe-heeled for C7 and vanished.

Then i saw the black E270 ahead, he was almost matching me on the straights but hell broke loose on C1, he went on a bit too hot and the car went off the racing line. Not wasting a moment, i took him from the inside, out broke him on C2 and went on with my business. The Mondeo joined in on the next lap. He was comming out of the pits while i was taking C1, he tried to get past but my speed out of the corner gave me the chance to nudge ahead at C2. For some reason, he just wasnt able to keep up. Infact none of the big cars did well on that track (too tight for them i guess).

As the session ended, i was asked to report to the paddocks. i knew something was wrong. As i parked the car, Sawan (driver of the red swift who is also a pro driver) asked me why i took him on the turn. I said it was my first time got a little over excited on track. I apologised to him and said i'd keep that in mind.

This was when JD Madan came up to the Vtec, kept his palm on it and asked who the car was being driven by. i said i was. He said : in this session? I said yeah.

He looked at me with a smile, showed me the thumbs up and said "Beautiful driving". I asked him why he said so. I'm pretty sure you've already read what he had to say, in SSJs post. That was it. Instant nirvana!!! Mission accomplished.

We went there to see the Vtec "REDEEM" istself, and that's exactly what it did. And mind u, even after those 2 session on day 1 the G Grid on the front left had enuf life to bring us, all the way back home. Wolf seemed so happy, he may just keep those tyres till they wear out themselves.

All said n done, track day is one hell of an event. Too bad we missed the first 2 due to comitments but will try and make the ones to follow.

For the low down on Wolf's experience behind the wheel, wait till he posts. I bet he's itching to get online. LOL

PS : The fastest car on track was a silver Porsche 911 which was lapping at a consistant 1:15. I think it was driven by an ex-Formula2 driver.

Looks like u did well for a first timer, Shan2nu. Good. That must have been encouraging. They key is consistency, as you will soon find out. Keep it up.

Anybody yet know who was driving a white esteem (without a co-driver) on Day 1 session 4? Too many mistakes, won't make it past audition to pro circuits if that continues, but saw him go like a rocket, timed at 1.19! I liked it.

Well well, to start with Im sorry with what happened to one of our bikerboys, he crashed on his Rx, got a little scraped but thanks to the Lord he's fine...

Donno where to start, well I would start by saying a hearty thanks to Mclaren, Psycho for having us tempted to make it to the tracks despite perrinial constraints...Thanks guys.

Shan2nu has mentioned everything so neatly that I dont really have much to add on except that "Im gonna be back on track next time with a much well prepared car"!!! Im so impressed with the handling, power, finesse on my Vtec that she deserves a few meaningful upgrade real soon, Shan2nu wouldnt agree to that lesser Im sure. We had lot of doubts regarding Vtec's handling and all but today I can say with abundant confidence that "It handles like a gem" even in stock form and the power , I neednt say anything, it blew most cars as if they were 50bhp cars!

Experience on track: I with my rally like driving style did take some time to understand the required pace but I would also like to mention that most people think sliding is wasting time but controlled sliding on this track at certain fast corners can be used to your benefit!No debates on that though coz it can be subjective. I managed to learn the lines half way through my first session and I clocked my best time 1min:23secs:24(manual) in my first lap in my second session but got warned for entering the corners too fast as lotta slow cars were around. I dropped out half way through my second session as I ran low on fuel so my engine was cutting off on hard cornering and was getting frustrated when I was getting blocked by very slow cars! I also ran into the gravel once coz of one those
cars...

Shan2nu's lines and speed control was like that of professionals and I think he was too good for a first timer and thanks to him for urging me into learning toe-heel braking,which helped me a real real lot!!!!! It was a tough time learning that black art but in almost 2months we got a grip on it...we also tried it several times enroute to Sriperumbudur from blore and almost perfected it. Left leg braking also helped me go very fast on c1 and retain revvs all the way...

Well, Im bored of appreciating myself,my car etc so Im gona shut up and wait till te next track day. Have also planned to go there next month if they let me in.

Highlight: A porsche 911 doing a 1min:15sec lap, mind blowing!!!

Lastly, Kudos to the organisers , they have done a phenominal overall job...My only request will be: If possible pls dont allow more than 8 cars on tack at one time, serious lappers suffer a lot but again I understand its due to time constraints.....so no worries. Excellent job, keepup the great work...Also, pls try having more track days so that it becomes a habit than mere experience.

Well as usual it was super fun yet again .. Cant get enough of thankin u guys ..

Makes my decision of going to track with the baleno worth every penny ...

Day 1 : Took the baleno out on the 1st session on saturday and figured out that it was nothing but risky to drive on track .. The stock 165's had no traction whatsoever , and since the engine had just run in for 1.6k decided to take it easy .. The 2nd session too went off me trying to just get used to the handling (or rather lack of traction) on the baleno .. Was too tempting not to push it even further ..

But then came the 3rd session when we got the transponders fixed .. Got into the baleno with psycho riding shotgun .. Went hard on the 1st lap and clocked a 1:32:336 .. That too with running wide on C3 (could never get the line right bcoz of the lack of grip) and C5 .. Then psycho said not to push it and we relaxed to a more sedate kind of driving style ala psycho's and clocked 1:34:287 , we were hardly pushing the car .. Main aim was to make sure that the tyres wouldnt squeal at all .. And not to strain the engine ..

4th session was psychos turn to drive the baleno and i must admit he did damn well and clocked a 1:35:976 .. This was with him not taking the C1 and the penultimate corner all out .. Our major concerns were still the tyres .. Had he decided to push it a bit he could have very well taken 2 secs of his timing ..

LGB Session : The main reason why i decided to head to track day .. After some really hot laps in the FISSME's over the last two track days decided to give it a go with the LGB's .. Wanted to see how different would the LGB's handle from the FISSME's and i must say they are way way different .. The FISSME's are certainly a drivers car , they oversteer with the slightest mistake (downshift , brake etc) that the drivers make and are a ball to handle .. Trust me the fun u have in getting to handle a FISSME is compared to none ..

Coming to the LGB's these things are certainly monsters , they have tremendous handling capabilities and power .. They dont oversteer whatsoever like the FISSME's .. I loved the LGB's as well for their brilliant handling and the brute power .. Its very easy to get used to the LGB's and they certainly feel heavy .. I was lucky to drive aditya akkineni's LGB ..

But managed to clock only 3 laps .. On the 1st lap i managed to get used to the handling and was shocked because i expected them to handle similar to the FISSME's .. 2nd lap i pushed it a bit hard to see where it would give up and at C2 the two LGB's up ahead of me were trying to race and both of them spun up a few feet ahead of me .. Not wanting to pay a bomb by crashing into them decided it was better to spin of the track and go onto the kerbs .. And trust me its not a good feeling at all to go onto the kerbs when ur A## is a few inches of the ground .. It does hurt .. Back onto the 3 lap i was trying to get on with the pace and shantanu clocked me doing 1:21 i think ..

On the 4th lap at C2 i just de-clutched to shift into 3rd and i just couldnt .. I had severe pain in my left leg , so unbearable that the guys could have heard me yeling at the pits .. With great difficulty managed to bring the LGB to a stop , but on realising that i was bang on the racing line decided to take it off the track so that i wouldnt pose a threat to the others .. And trust me getting ther car to move again was the hardest thing i had to ever do in my life .. Did it and by now i was wrigling in tremendous pain ... Got the 4-point harness out and tried moving my left leg but just couldnt .. Touched my left leg only to find my left calf muscle twisted by a full 90 degrees .. And the muscle was stuck there .. Unfortunately had to call off the session and head into the medical centre just to find the doc waiting with an injection .. Got out after a while with dissapointment that i wont be able to drive for the rest of the day .. But the excitement to drive in the 3rd session was too overwhelming and ended up driving the baleno even with the pain ..